Shadow Slave

Just like after the First Nightmare, Sunny suddenly sensed something waking up within him. Back then, it felt as though this new power came from inside his soul as opposed to some external source. This time the feeling was very similar, only more intense, more defined.

It was coming from his Shadow Cores.

They were radiating an ethereal, but almost palpable heat. The energy was circulating through his entire body, changing it, making it stronger. It was somewhat similar to the strange feeling he got every time he received a shadow fragment, but so much more powerful.

…A thousand times more powerful.

And deeper, too.

With a barely audible gasp, Sunny slowly sat down and crossed his legs, then closed his eyes, concentrating on the transformation.

Every fiber of his being was soon full of the mysterious energy. The familiar euphoric feeling overwhelmed him, washing over his mind like a warm wave. However, Sunny wanted to feel more, understand more. He wanted to remember this moment in every detail.

It was his triumph, after all.

Beneath the physical changes that his body was undergoing to become better, stronger, more perfect… was another, subtle, but equally incredible change.

It was happening to his soul.

Sunny had no words to describe it, but knew that he had never experienced anything as wonderful. The transformation of his soul was not at all painful, like the creation of the second Shadow Core had been, and not nearly as torturous as the agony that consuming a drop of divine blood had caused him.

It felt… natural, right, and profound. As though he was coming one step closer to becoming complete, to what he had always been meant to be.

A better being.

Soon, the pulsating waves of heat retreated, replaced by a wave of soothing coldness. The dull ache in his heart that had remained there, unnoticed, ever since leaving the Forgotten Shore lessened a little. His mind became calm and tranquil.

Sunny felt like... like a sword that had been tempered and fortified in a fiery crucible, a being made of cold, pure, resilient steel.

He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes.

His body felt stronger, faster, and more enduring, similar to how he felt when wrapped in the shadow. The change was sufficiently pronounced, and he knew that it would only grow greater if he used one or both of the shadows to actually augment him.

it wasn't

Dreamers was not physical might, but a new innate ability. Just like Dreamers gained the ability to sense and interact with soul cores, the Awakened could

and feeling were

but unmistakable. He felt its emptiness at the start of his journey, and felt it brimming

power wasn't contained inside the Shadow Cores anymore, but broke free, flowing naturally through his entire body. It circulated slowly, coming and going from the cores, passively

he would be able to direct the flow of shadow essence to concentrate it in a certain area. He could expend some amount of essence to give his arms incredible, explosive strength for a short amount of time, or feel his legs with the power to jump a dozen meters into

and would be all the time, crashing through walls and breaking delicate things by accident. Instead, by wisely controlling his shadow essence, he would be able to gift himself short bursts

'More training…'

he would have

another layer of combat strategy that

were much more tactical. While essence always restored itself to the core's maximum capacity, it took time. In the reality of a battle, it was a finite resource. Because of it, one had to be

cores. Luckily, he now

the end of the Awakening. The main event was yet to

spoke again,

[Awakening Aspect Ability…]

[...Aspect Ability acquired.]

Name:

blinked, then hurriedly

Name: Sunless.

Lost from

Rank: Awakened.

Class: Monster.

Shadow Cores: [2/7].

Shadow Fragments: [0/2000].

Dormant anymore, instead becoming Awakened. The shadow fragments

thousand fragments, gone just like

Awakening directly corresponded to the starting capacity of the core, and thus, the extent of the physical transformation that a Sleeper

saturating his first core, Sunny not only received a second one, but also made sure to gain the best benefits a Sleeper could dream of. Very few Awakened had ever fully saturated their cores before returning from their first journey to the Dream Realm,

was not drastic, but every little

'Enough stalling!'

of cores and shadow fragments and found the

Aspect Ability: [Shadow Step].